Gabon government swears in Bongo replacement

The head of Gabon’s senate has been sworn in as the Central African nation’s interim president, the first time in more than four decades that power has been held by anyone other than the late leader Omar Bongo.

Senate chief Rose Francine Rogombe’s appointment today to the nation’s highest post follows constitutional procedure and sets the stage for presidential elections she must organise within 90 days.

Bongo died on Monday at the age of 73 after suffering cardiac arrest at a Spanish hospital where he had been treated for weeks.

His body is expected to be flown back to Gabon on Thursday from Spain, and the government said he would be buried on June 18 in Franceville, the capital of his native province.